NEWVILLE, Pa. – On a perfect fall day in Pennsylvania, running in front of thousands of cross country fans at Big Springs High School, the Pomona-Pitzer men's cross country team fought their way to a one-point victory to claim the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country National Championship. The historic win is the Sagehens third National Championship in program history, with all three Titles coming since the 2019 season. Winning three titles in a four year span has only been accomplished by three other programs in history with North Central, Wisconsin Oshkosh, and Calvin also on the list.

Pomona-Pitzer had the crowd in disbelief as they stormed through the last 2,000m of the race, jumping from third place to first place in that stretch. The Sagehens were ranked No. 8 in the country heading into the NCAA Championships, with most spectators looking to see if Wisconsin La Crosse, North Central, Carnegie Mellon, or MIT could pull of the victory. The Sagehens had other plans as they sprinted off the line and worked from the front of the pack before using a late surge to clinch the Crown at the buzzer against UW La Crosse. The one-point victory is the first occurrence in the NCAA Division III Men's Championship and was nearly replicated in the Women's Championship with the Carleton Knights winning their first National Championship by three points over NYU. 
 
At the 1 mile mark, Lucas Florsheim sat in second place overall, splitting 4:45.9 with Derek Fearon in 33rd but only a few seconds behind at 4:48.9. By the 2 mile mark, the Sagehens looked strong, dropping 33 points to move into first place for the time being with Fearon (9:48.9) now sitting in second and Florsheim (9:49.) in third, just .1 off each other. Cameron Hatler was in good position as well at the two mile mark, sitting in 34th place with a time of 9:45.1 while Colin Kirkpatrick made strong moves with a 10:00.0 at the two mile mark, moving up 24 spots into 59th place. 
 
The tides began to turn momentarily as the hilly course created some separation among the top teams. At the 5k mark, Pomona-Pitzer dropped into second and later into third place at the 6k mark, setting up a historic final 2k for the Sagehens. The Pomona-Pitzer crew sat 59 points away from Wis. La Crosse at the 6k split with Fearon and Florsheim in 10th and 11th, Hatler in 29th, Kirkpatrick in 40th, and Jack Stein in 109th. 
 
With a surge to the finish line, Lucas Florsheim was the first Sagehen to cross the line, taking ninth overall with a time of 24:40.1. Derek Fearon was nearly side by side with Florsheim, taking 10th after crossing the line in 24:40.3, just steps behind Florsheim. Cameron Hatler moved up four spots in the last 2k, taking 25th overall with a time of 24:54.0. The Sagehens saw an even bigger jump from Colin Kirkpatrick who climbed 13 spots to take 27th overall, finishing his 8k in 24:56.5 to round out the Sagehens All-American performances. With every point becoming more and more crucial, the Sagehens looked to Jack Stein in the fifth spot for a strong finish. Stein navigated the home stretch well and fought to the line, finishing in 119th for Pomona-Pitzer with a time of 25:49.3. Ian Horsburgh took 175th on the day, moving up 18 spots in the final 2k, crossing the line in 26:10.6. Owen Kobett rounded out the top-seven, finishing in 200th overall with a time of 26:19.1. 
 
Although the Sagehens made a late surge that appeared to be strong enough to win the Title, the result was unclear as Wis. La Crosse also looked like they could have held off the pressure from Pomona-Pitzer. Neither team could confirm the results as the one-point margin sent things to a recount following the conclusion of the race. After many moments of waiting, the scoreboard began to flash the results with the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens seeing their name on top by the narrowest of margins, defeating Wis. La Crosse by just one point, proving that every spot mattered for the Sagehens with each runner charging toward the finish line. 
 
The Sagehens ran well for the entirety of this race, only sitting as low as third at one mile and 6k. The team spread was 1:09.2 with an average time of 25:00.1 while Wis. La Crosse had a 1:23.3 spread and a team average of 25:00.4, a truly narrow margin for the Sagehens to clinch the Title with. Ethan Gregg of Wis. La Crosse won the individual title but had teammates drop 13 spots and 42 spots in the final 2k while the Sagehens made essential jumps in the standings to secure the program's title in history, all coming since 2019. Pomona-Pitzer earned four All-American honors overall with Florsheim, Fearon, Hatler, and Kirkpatrick all finishing in the top-30 overall. The one-point victory will go down as one of the most exciting cross country races in history and will bring another National Title back to Sixth Street for the Sagehens. 

Along with the victory, the USTFCCCA announced on Tuesday that head coach Amber Williams was named the NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year, earning the honor in her first season as head coach with the Sagehens.